Vacuum-package apparatus.



G. STAUNTON. VACUUM PACKAGE APPARATUS.

APPLICATION IILIID MAY12,'1910. V

Patented Oct. 10, 1911.

II IIII| l GRAY STAUNTON, OF EVANSTON, ILLINOIS.

VACUUM-PACKAGE APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 10,1911.

Application filed Kay 12 1910. Serial No. 560,905. 7

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GRAY STAUNTON, a citizen of the United States,residin at Evanston, in the county of Cook and tate of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Vacuum-PackageApparatus, of which the following'is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in 10 vacuum package apparatus, andhas for its general object to provide means for packing material inair-tight receptacles to bemaintained sealedjby preponderance of ,atmosphere pressure over a reduced pressure within the sealed receptacle.

' More particularly, one of th'eobjeets of my invention is to provide avacuum package apparatus, so that the exhausting apparatus may create inan area local to. itself and the receptacle, an attenuated atmosphere',the cover of the receptacle, as a whole, being entirely inclosed withinthe area of the exhausting means, and receptacle, and free for bodilymovement to permit egress of air from the receptacle mto the exhaustingmeans, and to be sealed u on the receptacle by the pressure produce inthe operation of exhausting the air, so that when the exhausting meanshas been operated and removed, the cover Wlll be maintained in sealingrelation with the receptacle by the preponderance of normal atmosphereover the pressure of attenuated atmosphere within said receptacle. Afurther and more specific object of my invention is to provide inassociation with a suitable receptacle :1 pump of the character to bedescribed which is especially adapted for exhausting relatively largemouthed re-- 40 ceptacles, such as fruit jars or tumblers, and to usethe top or closure of such receptacle in conjunction therewith in lieuof a check valve, and thereby to avoid the necessity of perforating thetop, or other wall of the receptacle, and placing a special check valvetherein, to retain the atmosphere attenuation of the interior of suchreceptacle.

Other and further objects of my invention will become a l parent topersons skilled in the art from 1 consideration of the application, taken in connection with the drawing, whe 'ein- V v Figurell is anelevation, partly in section, of a fragment of a vessel to be exhaustedwith a closure overlying the mouth thereot showing the manner ofapplying the'pump;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the flexible pump end, with a portionbroken away to show the grooves therein; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectionof the pump end' taken on l ne 3-3 of Fig. 2; and in all of the viewsthe same reference charactersindicate corresponding parts. 1

My 'nvention is to be used for exhausting the gaseous content of a jaror other receptacle and sealing same, as a result of such exhaustion. Inpreserving fruit, or the like,

or oxygen from such packages. It is also desirable to seal the packagesecurely in order to retain the package in its exhausted Wondition. Bythe practice of my invention the closure is securely held in place overthe mouth of the jar, or package, by virtue of the difi'erence ofatmosphere pressure without and within said jar or package.

5 isthe jar or package to be sealed, preferably composed of glass,provided with a glass cover or closure, 6. A circumferential shoulder isformed around and under the periphery of said cover, as at 7, aroundwhich is seated-a flexible, preferably rubber, ring, 8, preferably oftriangular shape, in cross section. This feature of my invention isspecifically disclosed and claimed in my Letters-Patent No. 835,166,dated November 6, 1906. In this case, however, the top is notperforated, and is not provided with a special sealing valve. The openend or cap, 9, is made of a material which is more or. less flexible,such as rubber.. It is designed to fit over the open end of the pump andto be such size as to conveniently envessel.

The pump 10 consists of an ordinary brass pump barrel, 11, piston, 12,piston rod, 13, and handle 14, provided on its lower end with the bead,15. The cap, 9, consists of a boss part, 16, the disk part, 17, and theskirt part, 18. The hub 16 may be provided with which the head 15 passeswhen the cap is placed upon the end of the pump. rlctional engagementbetween the pump barrel tion "of the pump tends to produce a moreintimate contact between the parts, but the head and cave provide amechanical means for positively maintaining association of parts whenthe pump is not in use. The

it is desira-ble to extract and exclude the aircompass the outsidesurface of the jar or an interiorcircumferential groove, 19, into 11 andthe boss 16 is sufficiently great to retain the structure 9 on, saidpump, as the suchollow radial ribs, herein shown as four, 20,

21, 22, and 23, said ribs overlying or pan tially encompassingcorresponding grooves as at 21 and 22. These radial grooves extend fromthe central boss to a circumferential groove, coextensive with anexterior circumferential rib, 24:, thus providing air passageways fromthe pump to the outside surface r ofthe closure, as clearly shown inFig. 1.

The lower edge of the flexible skirt, 18, is provided with aninteriorly' circumferentially extending bead, 25, which strengthens thispart of the skirt and provides an accurate surface for contact with theside of the jar toprevent air leak when-the device is in operation.

To hold the upper part of the skirt, an open brass wire hoop, 27, notlarge enough to fill the groove, 24, may be placed therein.

Thisfeature, however, is not essential to the use and practice oftheinvention, as the stiffer disk or plate 17 is sufficient for thispurpose.

The use and operation of the device is as follows: After the receptacle5, such as a preserve-containing jar or the like, has been filled to agreater or less degree, the topor closure 6 having thereon the packingring, 8, is'placed over the mouth or opening of the jar. The exhaustpump, 10, with the cap 9, is applied -over the mouth of the jar, asshown in Fig. 1, so that the bead, 25, of the skirt, 18, makes contactwith the sides of the jar. When the piston, 12, by means of the handle14-, is raised, air is drawn from the interior of the jar, the top, 6,rising suiliciently for the air to pass out between the packing ring, 8,and the normally contacting surface of the jar. When the handle, l l, isdepressed, the piston, 12, forces the air contained therein upon the topsurface of the closure, 6, thereby firmly sealing it, and the air willescape from under the bead 25, of the skirt, 18, the latter yieldingsufficiently to permit of separation to provide an opening for thepassage of air.

In the operation of the exhaustion, the closure 6 acts as a check valve,and the skirt, by virtue of its elasticity separates from the side ofthe jar, due to the pressure of air from the interior, thus acting as anexhaust valve. 21, 22, and 23, are preferably made of material somewhatharder and less flexible than the skirt,'18, and boss, 16, so as to holdthe device more positively in the desired shape to be quickly applied.The wire ring 27 may be used to supplement this efiect if desired.Either means may be separately The disk, 17, and ribs, 20,

used, or both means may be used if desired. The air passes from thecenter to the periphery of the disk -17, through the radial groovesprovided under the radial ribs 20, 21, 22, and 23, and thecircumferential rib 24.

The cap 9 is sufficiently elastic to permit the free movement of theclosure 6 in its operation as a check valve.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. The combination with a receptacle having a single opening, and animperforate closure therefor, of an exhaust pump, and a valveless capterminal secured to said pump, inclosing the receptacle closure andadapted to make air tight contact with the receptacle beyond saidclosure.

2. The combination with a receptacle having a single opening, and animperforate closure therefor, of an exhaust pump, a valveless capcarried by said pump and making normally air-tight contact with the bodyof the receptacle beyond the closure, leaving said closure free forvertical movement within the confines of said cap.

3. The combination with a receptacle having a single opening and animperforate closure therefor, adapted for air-tight contact with thereceptacle, of anexhaust pump, a valveless cap mounted upon the intakeend of said exhaust pump, and providing an elastic skirt to inclose saidclosure and normally to make air-tight contact with the body part ofsaid receptacle beyond the said closure, said cap acting on theexhaust-stroke of the pump to effect direct air-tight connection betweenthe pump and receptacle to constitute of the spaces within thereceptacle, cap, and pump, a single exhaust area, wherein the receptacleclosure is free to move vertically as a check valve, and the skirt ofsaid cap acting upon the returnstroke of the pump as a yieldable elementto permit the expulsion of air from the pump and cap around thereceptacle.

4. In combination with a receptacle. and an imperforate closuretherefor, of means for exhausting air from said receptacle comprising acap'having a flexible central perforated boss for attachment to anexhausting means, a substantially vertical elastic shirt for contactwith said receptacle, an intermediate less elastic disk connecting saidboss and skirt providing air passages between said boss and skirt, andair moving means connected to the central boss in communication with thecentral perforation thereof.

5. In combination with a receptacle and an imperforate cover thereforadapted to make air-tight contact therewith, of an exh austing meanshaving secured thereto a cap extending over said closure and therebeyondadapted to make tight contact with said receptacle by eifect of outsidepressure during the exhausting operations.

6. In combination with a receptacle having an openlng and an imperforateclosure therefor adapted to make air-tightcontact pump, through theconstantly open conne-c-' tion between the cap and the pump.

7. An exhaust pump provided with a terminal cap having a centralperforate boss directly attached thereto, and having a disk skirt ofsubstantially uniform cross-sec tion, said skirt being composed ofmaterial more flexible and elastic than'that composing the disk, v V

8. An air exhausting means, comprising a pimp, and a cap having acentral perforate boss directly engaging thepump, a flexible sk rt, andan intervening disk, the walls of and disk providlng a circumferentialintei'lor channel, and a radially extending interior'channel connectingsaid circumferential channel and the openin throu h the boss.

9. The combination with a piston-exhaust pump having an intake opening,of a terminal cap secured to said pump comprising a flexible skirt and atransverse disk substantially uniform in thickness, portions whereof aredeflected to provide an interiorly channeled circumferential bead, andan interiorly channeled radial bead, the channels of said beadscommunicating to constitute a continuous passage, sai disk rovi ding anopening directly communicatmg with the intake opening of the pump, andalso communicating with saidradial channel.

10. Means for producing a vacuum in and sealing receptacles, having asingle opening and a closure-seat within the walls thereof comprising incombination an impcrforate closure for, and of smaller diameter than,said receptacle, adapted and arranged to cooperate with saitl interiorseat; an exhaust pump, a valveless enlarged terminal attached to saidpump encompassing said closure and forming an air-tight joint with theouter walls of the receptacle whereby said receptacle is sealed by thepreponderance of outside pressure resulting from partial exhaustion ofthe contents thereof, and its closure maintained against lateralmovement and accidental unseating that would otherwise result from theforce of blows directed laterally or upwardly against said closure.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand in the presence'of twowitnesses.

GRAY STAUNTON.

In the presence of- W. LINN ALLEN, MARY F. ALLEN.

